US News “Best States” Report unkind to New Mexico which is ranked 47th overall

A new US News & World Report ranking of “Best States” provides yet another sobering appraisal of New Mexico’s public policies (all of which impact the livability of a given state). While the report has been making its rounds on the Internet, we look at a study’s methodology to find out if the report has merit. This one does and it shows that New Mexico’s problems are politically-created.

Education is particularly bad and concerning as is crime. The economy is not great either. Our oil and gas industry provides economic stability which is our only “good” ranking. One oddity in terms of “natural environment” ranking, New Mexico does poorly on “air & water quality” but very well on “pollution.”

So, while not completely sound the rankings as a whole highlight a number of things that New Mexicans already intuitively understand.